TODAY IN HISTORY: October 14

Today is Monday, Oct. 14, the 287th day of 2013. There are 78 days left in the year. This is the Columbus Day observance in the United States, as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 14, 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the White House as the Progressive candidate, was shot in the chest in Milwaukee by New York saloonkeeper John Schrank. Despite the wound, Roosevelt went ahead with a scheduled speech, declaring, “It takes more than one bullet to kill a bull moose.”
On this date:
In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.
In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England, accused of committing treason against Queen Elizabeth I. (Mary was beheaded in February 1587.)
In 1890, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas.
In 1908, the E.M. Forster novel “A Room With a View” was first published by Edward Arnold of London.
In 1939, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a British battleship anchored at Scapa Flow in Scotland’s Orkney Islands; 833 of the more than 1,200 men aboard were killed.
In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. (“Chuck”) Yeager (YAY’-gur) broke the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.
In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy suggested the idea of a Peace Corps while addressing an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
In 1961, the Frank Loesser (LEH’-sur) musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” starring Robert Morse as J. Pierrepont Finch, opened on Broadway.
In 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 74.
In 1987, a 58-hour drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center; she was rescued on Oct. 16.Ten years ago: John Allen Muhammad pleaded not guilty to murder as the first trial in the deadly Washington-area sniper rampage got under way in Virginia Beach, Va. (Muhammad was later convicted of killing Dean Harold Meyers and executed in 2009.) The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for building a barrier that cut into the West Bank. In Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, a Cubs fan inadvertently deflected a foul ball away from the outstretched glove of Chicago outfielder Moises Alou; the Florida Marlins, down 3-0 at the time, rallied to win the game and went on to win Game 7 and advance to the World Series, where they beat the New York Yankees.Five years ago: Big banks started falling in line behind a revised bailout plan that was fast becoming more of a buy-in; the Bush administration announced it would fork over as much as $250 billion in exchange for partial ownership. A grand jury in Orlando, Fla. returned charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter against Casey Anthony in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. (She was acquitted in July 2011.) Syria formally recognized Lebanon for the first time by establishing diplomatic relations with its neighbor. Canada’s Conservative Party won in national elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority.One year ago: Former Sen. Arlen Specter died at 82 of complications from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. For most of his 30 years representing Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, Specter was a Republican, though he began his political career as a Democrat and returned to that party in 2009. Daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner became the first man to shatter the sound barrier without traveling in a jet or a spacecraft, jumping from a balloon 24 miles above the New Mexico desert. Sixty-five years after becoming the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound, 89-year-old retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager commemorated the event by smashing through the sound barrier again, this time in the backseat of an F-15. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, while the Detroit Tigers blanked the New York Yankees 3-0 to take a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Thought for Today: “Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are.” — Skydiver Felix Baumgartner, after becoming the first man to shatter the sound barrier without using a jet or a spacecraft.